They also often have specific beneficial properties and are used traditionally both medicinally and in cooking. Cinnamon for example lowers blood sugar and suppresses appetite and protects against disease. Ginger is another potent herb which is an antioxidant and is anti-inflammatory. Capsaicin from hot peppers speeds up fat metabolism and reduces inflammation. Parsley is popular herb which removes heavy metals from the body and is packed with vitamins. Rosemary reduces inflammation in the brain treating headaches and boosting mental energy. Herbs and spices add color, flavor and novelty to keto meals. You can make the same dish taste totally different by adding a few fresh herbs.
Not in the mood for cake? Brownies definitely come second on that list of delicious treats that we want once we turn to a ketogenic diet. You can easily make keto brownies that you can fully enjoy without having to fight against the craving to have more. Besides using almond flour and other mixtures of flours, you can make them out of avocado as well.

Thank you for such a wonderful informative article. You give everyone all this knowledge for free & people still want more. Give me printable versions of food list & protein charts. Come on people do a little leg work yourself, show some initiative. If you can’t your not going to be disciplined enough to make this diet work. There are links above to get free meal plans & more keto info. I’ve lost 60 lbs in 10 months & changed my life. My single best piece of advise? Buy a good keto info & recipe book. Key word in last sentence is “GOOD”. Hard copy for instant reference. Worth its weight in gold.
How can you promise that when everything seems to need to be handmade? That is either a major time commitment, shopping, prepping, cooking, cleaning, or the most basic-bland thing ever. This would all be very good for me, but I don’t see how it is feasibly sustainable. Everyone seems to say things like ‘oh it only takes an hour’. All I can think is, wow you have an hour for this every meal? That and I live by myself and fresh food goes bad quickly, that gets really expensive really quickly or requires that you go to the store every other day. I really want to do this long term, but please, how is it realistically possible? I don’t want every meal to mean that I have to clean a pot, a pan, 2 knives, a stirring spoon, a cutting board, etc etc.
Again, generally speaking, in proportion to their fat content, nuts are pretty low in carbs. Looking at the examples below, an ounce of the almonds would have about 2.9 grams of net carbs and the same amount of macadamia nuts would have 1.5 grams. It’s important to account for net carbs over total carbs, since nuts contain fiber, which is indigestible. Therefore, net carbs refer to the number that is usable by the body. Check out the Perfect Keto Guide to Net Carbs for more.
Just wanted to say thank you! I followed this recipe and if you would’ve served me this at a restaurant I wouldn’t know the difference between this and regular cheesecake! Some minor changes I did only because of the ingredients I had available were to use coconut flour vs almond flour, stevia packs (converted) vs. erythritol for both crust and batter, and just a small amount of almond milk to get the right consistency for the crust. For anyone who may need it, for every cup of almond flour I substituted 1/4 cup (or 2 ounces weighed) of coconut flour. Along with the almond milk, I increased the amount of butter used by about 1 tbsp since coconut flour really sucks up moisture. After that, I followed everything else listed including directions and was not disappointed. Although I used an incorrect pan type(only 2inch high 9inch solid baking pan) so I wasn’t the prettiest cheesecake, it was still delicious which is honestly all I cared about. I might also add that this is the first time I’ve ever baked cheesecake (or any type of baking) of any type, so for anyone who might think it’s difficult, give it a try!
Rich in gut-happy bacteria, yogurt is a great way to add a little sweetness to a Keto diet. Although you can find Greek or low carb coconut yogurts on many grocery store shelves, why not get creative and make your own? It’s easy as pie and delicious homemade yogurt will be a fabulous addition to the recipes featured on our list of top Keto-friendly yogurt dishes!

Although excellent sources of fat, nuts add up quickly in protein and carbs, and are often inflammatory. Snack on fattier nuts such as macadamia nuts and pecans, but limit those high in inflammatory omega-6s, like peanuts and sunflower seeds. Only use nut flours (almond, coconut) in moderation, as they are packed with protein. To stay in ketosis, limit high-carb nuts like cashews, pistachios and chestnuts, and avoid most beans.

Strawberries and currants have fairly high sugar content in the 7 to 9 gram-per-cup serving range. Cranberries and raspberries, on the other hand, only have between 4.5 and 5.5 grams. You should be aware that it's not just about sugar, though — the total carbs in raspberries come out to 14.7 grams per serving, while cranberries have 13.4 grams per serving. Despite this, it's easy to have half a serving of any of these berries as part of a dessert or morning smoothie and still be within keto diet parameters.
Tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, banana, papaya, etc.) and some high-carb fruit (tangerine, grapes, etc.) Also avoid fruit juices (yes, even 100% fresh juices!) - better to drink smoothies if any, but either way very limited. Juices are just like sugary water, but smoothies have fiber, which is at least more sating. This also includes dried fruit (dates, raisins, etc).
Plus, many nuts are salted and may have been roasted in a tasty oil. That makes them really enticing and can lead to overeating or binging on them, which can cause weight gain as well as kick you out of nutritional ketosis. With that in mind, if you find yourself feeling out of control around nuts, you might be better off staying away from them altogether.
Yogurt contains calcium, vitamins B and D, and other minerals. Calcium isn’t just essential for healthy teeth and bones. Calcium is an essential nutrient your body needs. According to the USDA, you should consume around 1,100-1,200 milligrams each day[*]. Calcium also helps your blood clot, promotes muscle contraction and helps your heart pump blood[*].
That's why keto die-hards are notorious for eating plenty of bacon and cheese. However, if you're tired of eating the same bunless cheeseburger every night, there are plenty of meat-based fat sources you likely haven't tried. Get creative and make one of these five fatty cuts of meat for dinner. Of course, it's best not to go overboard and eat these for every meal–most dietitians recommend getting healthy fats from plant-based sources like nuts and avocado.
The whole point of going keto is to reach ketosis, a cult-y sounding name for the metabolic process that happens when your body uses fat instead of carbs for energy. To get there, you've gotta do the obvious: eat a whole lot of fat and little to no carbs. It's restrictive, but if you hack the the system just right, you can still create surprisingly delicious food—like taquitos and cookie dough bites. (These are our favorite keto recipes, by the way.)

If your diet is high in carbs, then your body will produce plenty of glucose, which is derived from the carbohydrates and used as an energy source, and insulin, which helps to transport the glucose around your body. In this case, the body will prefer the glucose as an energy source and ignore other alternatives, such as fats. The fats will be stored in fatty tissues in your body and contribute to your weight gain.

This looks awesome and I’m going to try it. I’ve been doing “keto” since before it was called that. I fell off the wagon several years ago but have recently come back to the fold as it’s the only way of eating that works for me. Anyway I wanted to mention that when my kids were growing up I made yogurt often. And then when I started low carbing I decided to try making it with heavy cream and it worked! And it’s amazing. Obviously more work than this but try it!
However, the need to eliminate carbohydrate-rich foods does not mean that all fruits must be removed from your daily diet. In fact, several high-fat, low-carb fruits, like coconut and avocado, are staples of the ketogenic diet. Ultimately, finding good keto fruits just involves identifying fruits with low carb content, so that you can consume healthy, sweet foods without affecting ketosis.
Samantha, I hope you were able to stick with keto. I am having fun with this, been about 4 weeks and I’ve lost weight for the first time in years. I have done “low carb” before, but this is so much easier. I think one key for yourself would be to make a meal plan, grocery list, and do all prep work one weekend day. Make up a few dishes at a time, freezing things for quick grab (because we all know when we are hungry and have NO time we are at our weakest and more likely to crash and burn). Planning is key, buy IQF, well worth the extra few bucks a week it may cost. And she is right, once you kick the craving you don’t really need the knockoff recipes. You are so completely satisfied you don’t really need the junk. Take it from a sugar addict! This soup was refreshingly easy and much tastier than I could have imagined. And did not take long at all. One thing I did when I made this soup was cut it in half, (probably going to freeze two servings of left overs) and stir fried the other half of my cabbage with olive oil, onion powder and celery seed. That can be frozen as well and pulled out later for a quick snack. All so healthy! Thanks for the simple soup recipe. “Stick with the basics” So true!
My main reason for contacting is the problem I may have with chewing sugar free chewing gum ( two packs a day )whilst on this diet. I need to chew most of the time to somewhat disguise the constant spasming to my mouth. Can you suggest a chewing gum that is suitable whilst on this diet? Thank you for the information and references you have provided. If you know of anything regards this diet and dystonia, I would be most grateful.
Truly amazed after trying dozens of recipes for bread, cake, etc. with almond flour and all turned to sawdust or icky, hard yuk! All the wasted expensive ingredients, I have finally hit gold with this recipe exactly as written! We have been Primal and off bread for about 4 years, but always salivating when offered fresh bread or bagel! This is a great recipe and thank you for sharing!
Time to address the elephant in the room. Rhubarb is not a fruit. Or at least, rhubarb fails the eye test at first glance. It looks like red celery. When raw, it feels like celery. Hard, bitter, fibrous, and about as enjoyable as a spoonful of cough syrup. Except, that’s not rhubarb at all. Rhubarb measures like a vegetable but tastes like a fruit. It cooks like a fruit and fits the sweet profile you may be craving on a Tuesday night. Reduce 4 ounces of chopped rhubarb with 4 ounces of strawberries, and you have sweet fruit topping that barely skims 9 grams of net carbs, or roughly 4.5 net carbs per serving.
Meat products make up a big part of the keto diet, but experts stress the importance of choosing quality. "Since the keto diet is based a lot on animal proteins, it's important to buy organic poultry and grass-fed, organic beef," says Aimee Aristotelous, RD. "Not only do organic selections help with limiting environmental toxins, but grass-fed options of red meats even change the composition of fats." The result, she explains, is that your body is able to better absorb those healthy fats.
Whether you’re whipping them into a recipe or snacking on a handful of them raw, blackberries can make a great addition to your keto meal plan. A ½-cup serving doesn’t contain much fat (less than ½ g) but is also low in net carbs, with just 3.1 g. The same serving size offers 3.8 g of fiber (15.2 percent DV) and 3.5 g of sugar. Blackberries also provide potassium, with 117 mg (2.5 percent DV) per ½-cup serving. It has 15.1 mg of vitamin C (25.2 percent DV) and 14.3 mg of vitamin K (17.9 percent DV). This fruit is also a great snack for weight loss, containing about 31 cal per ½ cup.

So I only had 24 oz of cream cheese, but I decided to wing it. My 9 in cheesecake pan is silicone and not very deep. After mixing everything ( did everything else by recipe, just less cream cheese) I had too much filling, so I also filled 5 silicone cupcake liners and baked it in a water bath on the lower rack. At 35 minutes the large cake was starting to brown but the small ones were still white, but seemed pretty solid, so I took them out and cooled them. Then at 45 minutes, the big cake seemed almost too brown, so I pulled it out. A couple hours in the fridge and the small ones( with no crust) popped out of the silicone liners and were super delicious. The big one came away from the sides cleanly and it would have been ready to eat already, but we already ate the little ones, so tomorrow we will see how yummy the cake is with crust. Yay for cheesecake!

If you have been struggling a bit with desserts that won’t break every rule of the keto way of life, here is the answer! Low-carb cheesecake can fill the void and let you enjoy your eating plan instead of missing out. This cheesecake is very, very rich, so you will probably find a small piece will satisfy your need for dessert. You can use toppings if you want to, but the plain vanilla taste is great as it is!

This looks awesome and I’m going to try it. I’ve been doing “keto” since before it was called that. I fell off the wagon several years ago but have recently come back to the fold as it’s the only way of eating that works for me. Anyway I wanted to mention that when my kids were growing up I made yogurt often. And then when I started low carbing I decided to try making it with heavy cream and it worked! And it’s amazing. Obviously more work than this but try it!
The ketogenic diet is super popular these days, but following it can be challenging. The plan requires a lot of diligence, as eating too many carbohydrates can knock you out of fat-burning mode, also known as ketosis. Keto dieters eat large amounts of fat, a moderate amount of protein, and only 20-30 grams of carbohydrates per day—or about half a medium bagel—to maintain ketosis.
Transfer the silicone mat to a large baking sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and the edges are beginning to crisp up, then turn off the oven and let the crackers remain inside. If the edge pieces are browning too fast, simply remove them and let the remaining crackers sit in the warm oven until firm to the touch. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.
I scanned all my ingredients and also clicked on your links. My almond flour matches with the same amount of carbs but when I input everything, it has my net carbs as 4. My app may round up for some (I use Carb Manager). I think for me, the full carbs from the cream cheese is 32 oz of cream cheese at 32 net carbs (my box of cream cheese shows >1 for 1 oz) Bobs Red Mill almond flour at 2 cups for 24 net carbs and my 3 eggs show 1 carb. All together it puts it at 3.56 carbs per slice based on just those carbs. So not too far off from the 3 carbs.

Yogurt topped with a few nuts might seem like a no-brainer keto snack, but a 5.3 ounce serving of plain yogurt has 12 grams of carbohydrates. If you opt for flavored yogurt, like vanilla, that carb count doubles to 24 grams of carbohydrates for 6 ounces. Your best bet is to choose plain Greek yogurt, which has as little as five grams of carbohydrates for a 7 ounce serving.

Potential Health Benefits: Improvements in lipid profile. In one study, people with mildly elevated cholesterol consumed 30 grams (1 ounce) of hazelnuts for 4 weeks. By the end of the study, they had significant reductions in total cholesterol and cholesterol: HDL ratio. In addition, they experienced a significant decrease in apo-B, reflecting a reduction in their LDL particle number (16).